# Fine Wine Always Grape. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** wine\ **Created:** [March 19, 2007, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fine-wine-always-grape/396525 "2007-03-19T03:44:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fine-wine-always-grape/396525/1 "2007-03-19T03:44:08Z")
There is cherry wine. There is strawberry wine. There is even elderberry and dandelion wine (_no fooling_). Yet for something to be considered **fine** wine, it always has to be grape. Why is this? Thank you in advance to all who reply 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fine-wine-always-grape/396525/2 "2007-03-19T03:46:46Z")
**Moderator’s Note:** Swishing this one around and spitting it back out in Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fine-wine-always-grape/396525/3 "2007-03-19T04:20:55Z")
Basic guess on my part would be that the other fruits and stuff that people make wine out of lack the tannins and complex flavaniods that elevate a wine to greatness and allow it to age longer than 30 days. ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fine-wine-always-grape/396525/4 "2007-03-19T17:57:38Z")
From [here:](http://www.winepros.org/wine101/enology.htm) > [@](#): > > By definition, wine is a drink made by the partial or complete fermentation of the juice of fresh grapes. Grapes are the only fruit with a high enough level of sugar and with the proper balance of acid and nutrients to sustain a natural fermentation to dryness with stable results. Other fruits or berries may be fermented, but without additions of sugar, acid, or various yeast nutrients, they may readily spoil. That’s pretty much what silenus said. Grapes have been used for thousands of years for the reason stated above. Beyond those reasons, most countries have laws governing the production of wine. (For example France’s [AOC](http://www.winepros.org/wine101/vincyc-aoc.htm) laws; Burgundy must be made from Chardonnay or Pinot Noir, with few exceptions, etc.) In the US, the TTB issues such laws, and it lists different classes of wine, grape being the most important/prominent. [ttb.gov](http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=506cf0c03546efff958847134c5527d3&rgn=div5&view=text&node=27:1.0.1.1.2&idno=27#27:1.0.1.1.2.3.25.1) An interesting note related to wine grapes - They are one of the few fruit crops grown these days primarily for their flavor as opposed to appearance, size, yield, etc. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fine-wine-always-grape/396525/5 "2007-03-19T18:17:38Z")
I agree that there’s a prejudice in favor of grape wine (I certainly have it), but there are plenty of very serious other-fruit wineries. Here in Massachusetts Nashoba Valley Winery sells apple, pear, and other fruit wines (and no grape wines), and they;'re a very large and impressive operation. There’s a fruit winery on Cape Cod, too, but I don’t recall the basis. When I visited Washington State a few years ago, there was a large and thriving loganberry winery. Whatever grows best in your backyard. I admit to some grape wine snobbery myself, and will take grapes over other fruits, but I’ve toured these wineries and sampled their products. They’re not at all bad. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fine-wine-always-grape/396525/6 "2007-03-19T18:46:43Z")
Whereas I swing the other way. Something in grape wine doesn’t always work for me. I tend to like berry and other-based wines more. ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fine-wine-always-grape/396525/7 "2007-03-19T19:44:22Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] …there are plenty of very serious other-fruit wineries. [/QUOTE] I totally agree with this. In NJ blueberry and blackberry wines are big sellers for some wineries. Some of the most interesting wines I’ve tasted have come from [Peaks of the Otter Winery](http://www.peaksofotterwinery.com/winelist.htm) in Virginia. (My favorite is still Chili Dawg, an apple-pepper wine.) ---
**Author:** ![Sonia\_Montdore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Sonia\_Montdore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonia_Montdore)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fine-wine-always-grape/396525/8 "2007-03-20T01:47:06Z")
[QUOTE=Jim B.] …There is even…dandelion wine (_no fooling_) [/QUOTE] A Ray Bradbury fan would tell you that _Dandelion Wine_ is made of paper [Latest news & breaking headlines | The Times and The Sunday Times](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1530572.ece) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fine-wine-always-grape/396525/9 "2007-03-20T02:53:34Z")
The [North River Winery](http://www.northriverwinery.com/north-river.html) in Vermont makes some very nice apple wines that taste something like a good grape white wine. They also use pear and rhubarb for some interesting effects. While they don’t have anything with the complexity of a good red wine, they can hold their own against whites. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fine-wine-always-grape/396525/10 "2007-03-20T04:07:38Z")
The Japanese make decent plum and rice wines (sake). ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fine-wine-always-grape/396525/11 "2007-03-20T11:06:13Z")
I’ve made walnut leaf wine: fresh spring leaves straight from the tree, steeped in boiling water, sweetened and fermented. It’s thoroughly drinkable with a slight overtone of apples. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fine-wine-always-grape/396525/12 "2007-03-20T13:28:30Z")
[QUOTE=psycat90] From [here:](http://www.winepros.org/wine101/enology.htm) The key here, and to the question, is that it is a matter of definition. If you define wine as an alcoholic beverage made from fermenting grapes, that is what wine is, no argument. If, on the other hand, you define wine as alcoholic beverage made from fermenting any fruit, vegetable, grass, etc., then all those other things are wine too. Most wine enthusiasts prefer the first definition. That is their right, just as you can use the latter if you prefer.